Whisper Wars
by cosmic blues
Summary: "Give me a reason to fall in love, and you win." It was a challenge that Namine couldn't resist. Multiple pairings and side plots.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: **_hey guys this is my first fanfiction up here! i hope you guys like it. reviews make me happy so review please! also, just to be clear, i'm placing twilight town and the rest of the kh world in zanarkand. zanarkand would be like the continent or something, i suck at explaining things so i hope you guys get what i mean! other worlds will be placed in cocoon. both zanarkand and cocoon are worlds from final fantasy. (ff10 and FF13). also, i made some of the characters older than they're supposed to be. just so you know! anyway, onto the story :)_

**Edit: **_i made some small edits! i have a habit of going back on my work and just changing things around a little. i hope it's not too annoying if you notice this happen in future chapters!_

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><p><strong>Whisper Wars<br>**

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><p><strong>CHAPTER ONE: <strong>

It was August 23rd, arguably the hottest day of the summer. Needless to say, the majority of Twilight Town's residents were either stuck at home, probably sticking their heads in the freezer or hanging out in some air conditioned building. Not a single person could be found wandering around the streets of Twilight Town. That is, unless you were sixteen year old Roxas Hikari, who was stuck outside running errands for an elderly man named Terra- or as he liked to call, _Hitler's reincarnation._ Or just Hitler. Either way, Roxas had to work for this guy. And whether he liked it or not, he had to do whatever he was told. Roxas had already gotten in trouble several times from the boss and one more "outrage"- as his boss put it- would cause him to lose his job, leaving him with no other job to turn to except for a position at Chuck E. Cheese's. Despite having to put up with Terra's ridiculous demands and mindless rants about practically everything, Roxas was convinced that being a Chuck E. Cheese Boy was a fate worse than death. Though admitingly, Chuck E. Cheese had good food, Roxas was determined to keep himself from being ridiculed by his peers for parading around in a costume of an oversized rat or vermin of some sort.

"He better be grateful for this." Roxas muttered as he dragged himself, along with the bags of groceries and items Terra had asked for, into the elderly home. Sunny Side Homes, the name of the building, was painted yellow and resembled an apartment building only the inside of Sunny Side Homes smelled of prunes, or _"old people smell"_, as Roxas described it.

A majority of the elders, including Terra, spent most of their time in the lounge room. Only, instead of playing chess or chatting with the others, Terra was sitting away from the rest looking out the window as if there was a show going on outside. Roxas found that the elderly man did this a lot. He wondered what it was exactly that Terra was looking at, but he didn't dare to ask. Partly because he was scared that the man would snap at him, but mostly because it wasn't really any of his business.

"I got the stuff you asked for." Roxas said, standing just a few inches behind him. The older man looked back at him, studying the pool of sweat that was Roxas. He cringed at the sight of him and motioned for him to put it into his room, which wasn't far from the lounge.

Roxas didn't bother to wait for a thank you, he knew better than that. The word's "thank you" and "take a break" were obviously not in Terra's vocabulary. The blond continued down the hall and opened the second door to his right. Just like the rest of the building, it smelled of prunes and the walls were painted white and had blue carpeted floors. Terra's room was minimally decorated, only having a lamp on his bedside drawer and a medal from his army days laying on his dresser drawer. According to the old man, he was a cadet in the Zanarkand/Cocoon war- the longest war to take place in history. The old man didn't give much backdrop on the story, all he said was that he was that he regretted fighting in the war. Roxas wasn't exactly sure why he said that, but seeing as Terra wasn't exactly a ball of sunshine, it wasn't hard for him to believe that Terra hated his country and the people in it as well.

Being that Terra didn't like anyone staying in his room for too long, Roxas quickly dropped off the items beside. Before leaving, he hesitated on whether he should take the items out of the bag or not. He decided not. Besides, why should he? The old man didn't even show any signs of appreciation for him going out into the hot weather to pick up a bunch of toiletries and books, and sweets - which, by the way, Terra was prohibited from according to the staff. In an essence, Roxas was a smuggler for Terra. To spite the old man even more, he decided not to close his door when he left. Roxas knew exactly how much that pissed Terra off.

"Do you need anything else?" Roxas asked, returning to the old man. _'You better not'_

"No, I've had enough of your lousy service for one day. I tell you, if I were allowed outside on my own without someone wheeling me in a chair all day, I would've gotten the job ten times faster." He said, not bothering to look at the blond. "Oh and I'd do it without breaking a sweat either!" He added just as the blond was halfway out the door.

Roxas rolled his eyes at him. _The nerve of this old geizer. _He never should have listened to Olette in the first place. She had told him that working for Sunny Side Homes would be fun. He should have known better than to take the brunette's word since her idea of fun was doing charity work. The last time Roxas had volunteered for something was when he decided to go with Olette and Hayner to the soup kitchen, and he remembered how much "fun" that was. Sure it felt good to do something nice for others but it was just too, for a lack of better words, _troublesome_.

He was a slacker, no doubt about it. Just by looking at him, one could already peg him as one; From his messy spikes and loose attire that hardly ever matched, to the way he walked- slow and carelessly. Though others called him the towns slacker or a _lazy bum_, as Kairi would say, Roxas prefered the term _laid back_. It sounded less down-grading.

Roxas continued his way down the streets, the sun beating down hard on the back of his neck. The second he got back home he planned on taking a nice, long shower and then taking a nap afterwards. Usually he would hang out with his friends, but seeing as they had all so _ungraciously_ left him for the whole summer, he was forced to be on his own the whole time.

He made a right turn, continuing slowly down the sidewalk. He wondered why he hadn't brought his skateboard today. Then he remembered, during the first few of weeks of summer, Lea, Axel's younger brother, had asked if he could borrow it. Not knowing that the boy didn't know how to skate, he carelessly gave the board to him. Thirty minutes later, Lea came back with his board missing a wheel and the other half of the board missing. According to all his friends, that was the angriest he had been since they've known him.

Roxas continued to remember the day he found his skateboard totally annihilated by a ten year old boy. Luckily for the boy, he was Axel's brother so he couldn't hurt him. As he was deep in thought a shriek penetrated the air, snapping Roxas out of his thoughts. An old lady looking to be in her late sixties was holding onto a blue purse for dear life as an assailant with a ski mask pulled over his face tried to pry her grip away from it.

The man finally was able to pry it free from her hands, causing the pearl handle to break off from the bag. He turned away from the lady and started sprinting the other direction. Roxas sighed, he'd seen an old woman get robbed already. He couldn't just pretend that he hadn't seen it, could he?

The answer was no. Roxas sprinted ahead of the lady and easily caught up to the assailant. He smiled, he knew that the two years of running those ridiculous soccer drills weren't for nothing! Without giving the man a warning, Roxas grabbed the mugger by the waist and pulled him to the ground with as much force as he could muster. A small grunt escaped from the man's lips as the purse flew from his hands, emptying out all of it's contents in the process.

Meanwhile, as the man tried to crawl away from Roxas' grip, the elderly woman jogged by-huffing and all out of breath- and kicked the mugger in the ribs. "Stupid boy, I told you had no money on me!" She pointed to the items sprawled across the sidewalk. There was a book, a dinosaur looking cell phone, a water bottle, and a half eaten bag of chips. "You better get out of here or else I'll all the cops on you!" She hissed.

He immediately sprang to his feet, knocking Roxas off of him in the process. While the lady was busy picking up her items, Roxas continued to fight the urge not to moan in pain from scraping his knees when he tackled the mugger. Yes, he was aware of the fact that he would survive this, but still hurt a lot damnit!

"Young man, thank you so much for doing this for an old geizer like me!" The woman said, hovering above him. "I wasn't sure that there was anyone else outside in this weather."

Roxas got up slowly, cringing slightly in doing so. "It's nothing, really."

"Nonesense!" The woman shook her head at him. "Here, take this. It's very special." She took one of Roxas's hands and place something light on it.

Roxas examined the item closely. It appeared to be a charm of a paopu fruit. "Legend has it that the person you give this to will be your soul mate." The lady said as he was looking at it.

"Thanks, I'll be sure to give it to someone special then." Roxas lied.

The woman smiled. "Well, I better be getting home now. My husband's probably worried sick, I was supposed to be home two hours ago!"

"Take care then." Roxas said with a smile, before turning to leave. As he started toward the harbor, he could hear her footsteps shuffling the opposite direction.

Passing through the harbor was a longer route to his house, but the air was cooler around the area. Besides, it wasn't like he was in a rush to get back home. His father was yet again out on a business trip, this time to Destiny Islands. Daddy dearest had texted him this earlier in the day while he was still asleep, so Roxas had eaten breakfast alone once again. His mother on the other hand, had been on a trip five weeks before the summer started so he was used to her absence already. The last he'd heard from her, she was in Radiant Garden. But that was bound to change since she was the type of woman that didn't like staying in places for too long. According to her, she was with her friend on a trip to _rediscover _themselves.

Roxas didn't get it. He figured that it was just another excuse to get away from his father, which was understandable considering the fact that they had been fighting more than usual this year. He also wondered if she was using the trip as an excuse to get away from _him_ as well. As melodramatic as it sounded, sometimes Roxas wondered if his parents secretly hated him. After all, it was sort of his fault that they got into this mess. He didn't have to tell his mother about what he saw. He could have kept quiet and everything would be fine, wouldn't it?

Ten years ago, when he was six, he found his father in bed with another woman. He wasn't sure of what was going on but the most sensible thing at the time to him was to tell his mother. She cried when he had told her, and at his young age, he wondered why. The next day, everything had changed for him. His parents no longer loved it each other; instead they became bitter and almost resentful towards each other. Despite the tension between his parents, they never split up. And although they were still legally married, his father continued to see other women and all his mother could do about it was cry.

From then on, Roxas had sworn never to fall in love. He'd seen what it had done to his parents, it caused them pain and ruined a perfectly happy family. Thinking about it even more, what was the point in risking giving all of your heart to someone who could easily rip it out? What was the point in love if it didn't last? Roxas couldn't see a point in any of those and simply chose to believe that love was for the clueless.

Returning his attention back to the charm in his hands, Roxas rolled his eyes at it as if it were a human being. _'What do I need this stupid thing for?'_ he asked himself. _' I don't need a soul mate.'_ with that, he carelessly tossed the charm into the ocean, not even giving it a second glance before continuing his way back home.

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><p><em>Eight thousand miles away from Twilight Town, a girl stumbles upon something glistening by the shoreline. Curious, she walks over to it and picks it up. After closely examining it, she discovers that it is a paopu fruit charm. Many others had picked it up only to put it back down, finding nothing interesting about the charm at all. However, the girl was different. She takes the charm and puts it into her pocket. Unlike the others, she saw something special in it. She wasn't sure what exactly made it special, but there was something there. She could feel it. <em>

**So that's it for the first chapter! sorry if it sucks :( it's short too but i'll work on trying to make the other chapters longer! anyway, tell me what you think of it!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Authors Note: **_i really really want to thank those of you that reviewed and put me in your author/story subscriptions! it really means a lot to me :) __thanks to **xD . .umi, soluvepink, lnsane, milk bones **and **BlackButterfly9 **_for leaving reviews for this story!__

_oh and just a note, a lot of the characters tend to be ooc, so sorry if you don't like oocness! there are some swearing in this chapter too, just a heads up. also, there are some ideas that are borrowed or are similar to 500 days of summer- of course, this story isn't going to be a re-make of that movie! _anyway, onto the story!

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><p><strong>CHAPTER TWO:<strong>

A bus rolled into the borough of Twilight Town, dropping off a blonde haired girl by the name of Namine Strife. With nothing but a suitcase to accompany her, she stepped off bravely into the streets of what she would now call her new home. After news of her father falling into a coma, Namine was sent to live with her older brother, Cloud. Although the doctors informed her that the chances of her father waking up were unknown, Namine had faith in her father. It might be weeks, months, or years, but she was certain that he would someday wake up. Until the day he did, Namine swore to herself that she would do everything in her power to become the woman he always wanted her to be.

The next day after her father was put into the hospital, a co-worker from her father's company gave her a journal that belonged to her father. He explained that it was meant for her to read when she was a little older, but with the special circumstances, he decided that now was the right time for her have it. The journal, she discovered, was compiled of things for her to do. The list wasn't about the chores she had to do, but rather what he wanted her to accomplish in her lifetime. A few of the things included in the journal were for her to get accepted into Radiant University, which she was still working on, and taking over the company when he died- Cloud passed up that chance when he offered, so her father decided that she would inherit the company instead. Although many of the things on the list would have to wait until she grew up a little bit more, there were still a few things left on it that she could accomplish now. One thing that she had her heart set on accomplishing on the list was to fall in love.

Sixteen may have been to young for love according to some, but Namine truly believed that love had no limitations regardless if you were young or old, rich or poor. That being said, it was no mystery that Namine was a hopeless romantic- although she preferred to leave out the word "hopeless". Her strong belief of love stemmed from misconstrued remarks made by her grandmother, who was long gone now. As a child, she would sit and watch movies-romantic movies, of course- with her grandmother who would say all the time to her that love was the only thing that could make one happy. From that, Namine believed that she would never truly be happy without finding her soul mate.

Taking in a deep breath, Namine started towards a creme colored apartment building- the place she would now be staying in- and prepared to start her new life._  
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><p>It had only been two weeks since she first arrived in Twilight Town, but Namine was determined to get to school on her own. The first week of her arrival was meant for her to get settled in and get to know her brother again, who she hadn't seen or heard from since the day he left for college three years ago. It felt odd to Namine to see that the boy who used to run around town breaking the rules was now going on to major in something he once had a dislike for- <em>law<em>. Then again, a lot of things could easily change in three years.

The second week of her arrival was spent getting school supplies and of course, shopping for new clothes- which Cloud excused himself from. Cloud never liked shopping, especially with a girl. He explained that when guys shopped it only took them a ten minutes tops, if there weren't any lines, to pick out right fitting clothes and get back into the car. But when girls went shopping, something that only took a few minutes to do, became a quest for them that lasted for hours. To relieve her brother of his suffering, Namine reassured him that she knew her way to the boutiques, which she did. It was the matter of finding her way back home that was the problem. After wandering aimlessly around town for hours, Cloud finally found her and picked her up. The mission had been a fail, but Namine was now determined to show Cloud that she was now perfectly adjusted to her new home.

One of the things about Namine was that she didn't want people to see her as someone who needed to be helped all the time. She was stubborn and refused to get help from anyone unless she really, really had to- which she hoped she would never have to since she preferred to be able to help herself out. In an essence, she was stubborn. It was a quality that, according to her grandmother, warded the boys away from her. But Namine insisted that her soul mate wouldn't find it unappealing and would instead find it charming that she couldn't be swayed in what she believed in, which was the way she defined the word, stubborn.

At the sight of a red colored building with a long drive way for parents to drop of their kids, and Zanarkand's flag raised high above the school, Namine let out a breath of relief. She knew she could make it to school on her own. Instead of rushing to get into the building, like she should have since she was now five minutes late for class, she decided to walk nice and slowly in order for her to be able to take in the feeling of triumphant. Although it was completely unnecessary, considering the fact that Cloud already believed that she could make it to the school on her own. It was remembering how to get home, was what Cloud was worried about. Namine's problem in maneuvering around the town was that she claimed that all the apartments looked alike.

Namine was halfway into the school when all of a sudden, something hard knocked her onto the ground. Rolling a few feet away from her was a skateboard. She turned to her side, having been sprawled onto her stomach the whole time, and glared at the boy lying next to her. The boy had spiky dark blond hair, cerulean blue eyes, and wore a white shirt with blue jeans- it looked as if he had just thrown on whatever he could find. The sprang to his feet and wiped the dirt of his jeans, not looking at Namine the whole time.

"Um, a simple sorry would be nice." Namine said, getting to her feet. She imitated him and began to search for areas with dirt on it.

The boy pinched his brows together, "Me? I was screaming for you to get out of the way from fifteen feet away!"

Namine recalled hearing a muffled voice calling out to someone. Apparently, it had been for her. "I didn't know you were talking to me."

"You were the only other person outside besides me," The boy quipped. He had a look of irritation on his face now.

"Well it should of been clear that I didn't hear you since I didn't get out of your way. Why couldn't you have just swerved around me? It's not like there's not enough room out here!" Namine replied, crossing her arms around her chest, she was starting to get annoyed with him. If there was one thing that she didn't like besides feeling like a damsel in distress, it was rude people.

The boy looked like he was going to say something but closed his mouth when the bell rang. "Whatever, I'm late for class now," He muttered as he picked up his skateboard and jogged through the school doors.

Meanwhile, Namine stood outside frowning at his retreating back. _So much for sucking in all the glory_, she thought to herself. Namine continued her way into the building, this time walking at a faster pace. Unlike the boy, she wasn't too worried about being late. She was a new student here, so the chances that the teachers would get mad at her were unlikely. She strode down the hall, pulling out the schedule the school mailed her from her jean pocket. According to her schedule, she had English first period. Namine groaned, she hated that subject with a passion.

After a few more minutes of roaming around the hall, Namine finally found room 221. The teacher was already beginning the lesson, which was something about the importance of literature in history. From this, Namine could already tell that it was going to be a boring first period. She opened the door and waited for the teacher to acknowledge her presence. When she didn't, Namine let out a cough.

"And that's why-" The teacher turned to face Namine. "Take a seat in the back next to Xion. Xion raise your hand!" She directed at a dark haired girl with short hair. The girl seemed to have just woken up. Namine made her way to the back and sat next to the girl known as, Xion. "Class, we have a new student with us. Her name is Namine Strife," The teacher continued. "My name is Ms. Belle, and we're all very glad to have you here. Now, I have to run down to the office to get you a book so for the meantime, you can just relax," She smiled and headed out the door.

Namine instantly became filled with nervousness. Normally, Namine wasn't one to be shy, but with all the looks people were giving her just now, Namine was starting wish that she was invisible."Don't worry, you get used to it," Namine turned to face Xion, who was stretching her arms out.

"You're new too?" Namine asked.

"No, but I was a new kid before. Of course, High School's different than in elementary school where everyone immediately crowds over you. In a way, this is a lot better than having to deal with everyone making a circle around you and basically interrogating you." She explained.

Namine chuckled slightly. "Is class always this boring?" As lame as the question was, Namine couldn't think of anything else to say.

Xion nodded. "But the good news is that the teacher's a total pushover. All you have to do is get the class to whine about not wanting homework and she'll give in."

Namine nodded. As soon as she was about to say something else, two boys crowded over them. Both of them were brunettes and wore identical grins on their faces. "Hey new girl, you're name's Namine right?" The one on the left asked.

"Yeah..." Namine answered cautiously. She didn't like the look on their faces.

"Well, I think you're the pretties girl in the whole class," The boy paused. "What do you say after class we go behind the bleachers and you know, get to know each other."

Namine felt like puking. "You're a pig," She said, glaring up at him.

The other boy laughed. "Sorry Johnny, she doesn't like you. But maybe she'll go with me?"

"You're both pigs. Now leave me alone, I don't want to talk to you guys. Ever." Namine replied.

The boy nicknamed Johnny chuckled. "You know, you were cuter when you didn't open your mouth."

"Just fuck off, already. Can't you see she's not interested?" Xion piped up. She lazily examined her nails and waited for them to return to their desks. Of course, they didn't. Instead the two let out another chuckle and started to gang up on the raven haired girl.

"I think she's jealous," The other one said. "You can come with us too if you want and-"

What Xion did next surprised Namine. Rather than letting the boy finish the sentence, she threw her fist directly at his nose, causing him to jump back.

"What the fuck!" He exclaimed. He didn't bother waiting for an answer, instead he wandered out the door, probably to go to the bathroom to stop the nosebleed. His friend just threw Xion a dirty look before returning to his seat.

Namine continued to stare at Xion with awe. Although she thought that she could have handled the situation herself, she had to admit that Xion's way was a lot more effective. "Thanks," Namine said. "I could have handled it myself, but you did a good job too."

"Sure you could," Xion laughed. "Before you get to thinking that people around here are the nicest people on earth, I should warn you that half of the people here are complete douche bags."

"You don't need to tell me that. I already met one earlier today." Namine recalled her encounter with the spiky haired boy.

Xion shrugged. "I'm guessing you handled it the same way with those two guys?"

"He got annoyed and left, so I think I won that." Namine replied.

"If you meet them again or run into any other assholes, just skip right ahead to punching them. It's more effective, trust me," Xion said.

"If there's an opportunity, then okay," Namine said, though she hoped that there wouldn't be one. She had enough of dealing with assholes for one day.

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><p>Her second period class, calculus, had passed by slowly and painfully. She could tell that the others felt the same as well since she had nearly gotten run over by a group of students who were rushing out the door. Namine shrugged it off, and continued down the hallway for her next class, which was Chemistry. It wasn't a class she looked forward to, but it wasn't one that she would dread either. The reason of course was that science, next to art, was her best subject. Although it was true that she had fallen asleep numerous times during bio in her old school, Namine was very smart when it came to science. But for the sake of surviving the year without people asking to copy her homework all the time, Namine decided to keep that fact a secret.<p>

Surprisingly, she had gotten to class earlier than the others. Mr. Vexen, the teacher, told her to sit in the back, which was where she was seated in almost all of her classes. It wasn't long until the others started filing in. While they took their seats, Namine began to doodle on a fresh page of notebook paper. She was almost finished when a pile of books were slammed on the table. Namine closed her notebook, and looked up to see familiar spiky blond hair and blue eyes. "What? you can't be in my class!" Namine said as if this were the most impossible thing that could possibly happen to her.

"Great...So you're the new girl. Here I was thinking that the new girl could actually not be annoying. But you proved me wrong," The boy responded, taking his seat, which to her demise, was right next to hers.

Namine shot him an irritated look. "You know, you're not exactly the best person to be sitting next to either."

The blond shrugged, obviously unaffected by her comment. "So what were you drawing back there?" He asked, changing the subject.

"Like I'd show you," Namine snorted. She turned to place her notebook back into her bag but the boy snatched it from her. "Hey!" She exclaimed, trying to get it back.

The boy flipped the page open and examined the picture of a knight riding a horse. Holding onto the knight's waist was what appeared to be Namine dressed in a princess attire. Namine blushed as the boy started laughing. "Wh-what's so funny!" She asked, grabbing the notebook from his hands.

"A knight in shining armor? Wow, you believe in that corny shit?" He asked her with an amused grin on his face.

"What do you mean by corny shit? It can happen," Namine responded once she regained her composure.

"Right..a knight's gonna come busting through the doors and whisk you away into a castle? Yeah, I don't think so," The boy replied.

"Obviously not, idiot," Namine paused to see if he took offense to that. Normally, Namine didn't call others idiots- unless it was in a friendly way- but this time she felt the need to call the boy one. "What I meant was that knights in shining armor do exist. Not in a fairy tale way, but in love,"

"Not in a fairy tale way? Isn't love a fairy tale?" He responded with a question.

Namine was starting to get annoyed again. She exhaled before answering. "Don't tell me, you're one of those kids that don't believe in love?"

"Nope. I know it exists, it's just that I think it's stupid," The boy said with a shrug. "I don't see a point in falling in love if it doesn't last."

"Love isn't stupid. And it does last-" She began to say.

"Can you prove that?" The boy asked her.

"Yes. Married couples that stay together until death!" Namine exclaimed.

"_Until death_. That's not forever," He replied. Namine stayed quiet, unable to think of any other argument. "Exactly. Love doesn't last. So stop being so stupid and quit all that 'knight in shining armor' bullshit."

Namine's hands balled into a fist and her temples began to feel hot. Him laughing at her drawing was one thing, but calling her stupid and then saying that what she believed in was just a bunch lies, was another thing. He didn't seem to notice the angry glare that she was giving him right now, since his attention was now focused outside the window.

_"If you meet them again or run into any other assholes, just skip right ahead to punching them. It's more effective, trust me," _Namine remembered the earlier conversation she had with Xion and exhaled. "Hey you!" She said getting his attention.

"What?" The boy said. As soon as he turned his head to face her completely, Namine mustered up all the strength she had and connected her fist to his cheek. Unfortunately, all the strength she was trying to summon was not the least bit effective in injuring the boy. Instead of wincing in pain or jumping back, the boy raised a brow at her. Namine bit her lip, punching his face hurt her more than it did him. She brought her fist to her mouth and began to blow on it, as if it were on fire.

"MS. STRIFE!" Namine's head whipped to face the teacher, who had an angry look on his face. The other students turned to face the back, some were trying to hide their laughter while the others who weren't sure of what happened merely looked in her direction. "There is no violence allowed in this classroom!"

Namine gulped. "Bu-but he's..he's not even hurt!"

"Hurt or not, you broke the rules of the classroom. Go to the office!" He yelled.

Namine lowered her head in embarrassment and stood up to leave. As she did this, she heard the boy snicker. Although she was tempted to try to hit him again, she knew that it would be better if she didn't. At least she would have some dignity left to leave the room with.

"And you, Mr. Hikari, go down to the office!" Mr. Vexen snapped his attention to the blond.

"What! Why?" He exclaimed, immediately jumping to his feet.

"Because, Roxas, you probably provoked her. She wouldn't hit you for no apparent reason. Now go to the office!" He raised his voice again. Namine smiled to herself. At least she wasn't going down alone.

The two walked silently out the door and made their way over to the office, which was near the Math's hallway. The boy named Roxas was fuming, Namine could tell. She was pleased and had almost forgotten all about her failure at attempting to punch him.

"So," Namine started, ending the long silence. "You're name's Roxas Huh? What an ugly name," For some strange reason, she thought that that was a good insult.

Roxas rolled his eyes at her. "They say that girls mature faster than guys, but you sure prove whoever came up with that idea wrong."

Namine shrugged. "Just so you know, I won this."

Roxas finally looked at her. "What are you talking about?"

"Remember our first argument this morning? Well, you left so nobody won. Though techically, since you did retreat first, I won, but for arguement's sake I'll just say that it was a draw. That was round one, the fight in class was round two. Since you got in trouble for no good reason, I won cause I was the one who got you in trouble," Namine explained.

Roxas blinked. "You are so weird," He shook his head as he realized that _that_ was what he was going to have to look forward to seeing everyday of the year.

The two entered the office, where a man with long silver hair was seated behind a desk. It was Dr. Ansem, the principle of the school. He looked up at them from the papers he had been filing. "Yes? What can I do for you two?"

"Mr. Vexen sent us here," Roxas replied.

"For what?"

"Well, for Namine punching me- or at least attempting to- and me for 'provoking' her," Roxas explained.

Dr. Ansem looked back and forth at the two. "Are you hurt, Mr. Hikari?"

"Pfft, no."

"Okay then, instead of giving you lunch detention, I'll just have one of you sit here and the other sit back in the classroom." He reasoned.

"Bye," Roxas said, taking a seat in one of the chairs.

Namine glared at him before exiting the office. There was no way that she was going back there, she'd be ridiculed by the teacher and possibly the other kids as well. She gulped, she'd just have to roll with the punches. That was the advice her father always gave her everytime she declared something wasn't fair.

She entered the classroom again and hurried back into her seat. She felt a few eyeballs on her, but she ignored them. "I hope you've learned your lesson," Mr. Vexen called after her. "Now turn to page 316 in your textbook," He instructed the class.

Namine pulled a book from the shelf at the corner of the room and flipped to the page. "Psst!" Namine looked up to see a boy with blond hair styled into a mullet. He had green eyes and grinned back at her. Namine prayed that he wasn't going to turn out like Roxas or the other two from English class.

"Yes?" Namine whispered back.

"That was pretty funny what you did back there! You actually made this class fun, even it it was just for five minutes," The boy whispered back.

"For you maybe. I made an ass of myself. Now everyone will know me as the girl who can't even throw a punch," Namine muttered.

"So? That's not that bad. It's better than being known as the dumb senior who couldn't even pass chemistry," He replied.

Namine smiled, "Really? Who's that?"

"Me," His smile dropped. "But whatever, I could care less. This is my last year in this shitty school anyway." He smiled again. "By the way, the name's Demyx."

"Thanks Demyx for being the first nice guy I've met in this whole school so far," Namine smiled.

"Not everyone's a dick. I know you probably think Roxas' is one, but he's actually really nice once you get to know him." He said.

"Really? I guess I'll never see that side of him then," Namine replied.

Demyx chuckled. "Give him some time, he'll warm up to you. He's like a little brother to me, I know him like the back of my hand."

Namine nodded, though she really didn't think that that was possible- Roxas warming up to her.

* * *

><p>For lunch, Namine joined Xion and her friends Kairi, Olette, Selphie, Sora, and Hayner. After comparing schedules, Namine realized that she had Calculus with Hayner, Gym with Sora and Kairi, and art with Olette- though she explained that she was put in that class because all the other electives were taken.<p>

"Man, I can't wait for gym so I could show you to the others!" Sora grinned excitedly. Namine, after spending a few minutes talking to him, learned that the boy was excited by a lot of things. Although she had to admit that it could get annoying, she also found it refreshing. There weren't too many people out there with the amount of optimism and lust for life as Sora had.

"Others?" Namine asked, finishing off the last of her spaghetti.

"Yeah, but they were being gay and wanted to eat out for lunch today," He explained. "You won't get to meet all of them, but our other friends have the same gym period as us. One of them is my twin brother, Vanitas."

"Twin? That's cool. So how do I tell you guys apart then?" Namine asked. She had always been intrigued by twins.

"It's not hard," Hayner said. "In eighth grade, Vanitas dyed his hair black and got gold contacts so people can't mistake the two. If you ask me, he went a little overboard. But looks aren't the only way that you could tell between the two; Sora's well...you know, a spazz- no offense, Sora. And Vanitas, he's kind of an asshole. But don't worry, you get used to him," Hayner explained.

Namine nodded, though she wasn't sure if she would like Vanitas or not.

"He's not really an asshole..." Xion muttered.

"Well, he did try to make everyone his slave when we were all in kindergarten," Sora grimaced at the memory. Despite being his brother, Vanitas still tried to make him his slave. "Luckily, Riku stood up to him."

"Riku?" Namine repeated.

"He's the most wanted by the girls in this school," Selphie informed her. "After that idiot, Vanitas, tried to be king of the jungle gym and get everyone to do what he said, Riku stood up to him for us. The two got into a fight that lasted for thirty seconds until one of the lunch ladies came over and broke it apart. Riku got in trouble but so did Vanitas so he couldn't rule the jungle gym like he said he would since they were both stuck in time out. The funny thing, though, is that that's how they became friends."

"Come to think of it, isn't that how he became like your best friend?" Olette asked Xion, who nodded.

"He's such a dick but I put up with him anyway," Xion replied.

"Yeah and he's my brother," Sora said, though Namine could tell that he really loved his brother regardless of the reputation he had. "Anyway, you'll also get to meet Riku, Axel, Tidus, Roxas, Zex-"

"Roxas!" Namine exlaimed.

"Yeah. You know him?" Sora asked.

"He's the jerk that got me in trouble with Vexen," Namine replied with a bitter tone. Two classes, _Two _classes that she had with him.

"Jerk?" Olette asked, confused. "He's so nice! What could he have done to make you so mad at him?"

"He,um, laughed at my drawing. And he said I was stupid for believing in love," Namine muttered, recalling at how angry he had made her.

"Oh," Kairi said. "He's got some strong opinions about love. He was really scarred by what happened with his parents."

Namine eased her expression. "Well, he should be more open minded instead of arguing with others about it."

"Just don't bring it up around him, and I'm sure you won't get into fights with him about it," Hayner said. "He gets really touchy about that subject, so it's just best if you don't say anything involving love at all or else he'll start up a whole debate about it."

While most people would've understood those reasons, Namine had her own opinion on how to react to the explanation. Instead of letting it go and accepting his views on love, Namine decided on one thing: She was going to make him see her way.

* * *

><p>The bell rang, signaling the end of lunch. Kairi and Sora lead Namine to the gymnasium, where several groups of students were formed around the room. Kairi and Sora directed Namine to a group sitting towards the back of the room, where a onyx haired boy, a brunette, a red head, a silver haired boy, a dark haired version of Sora (Vanitas), and of course, Roxas, were sitting. While Kairi and Sora happily made their way over to the group, Namine trailed reluctantly behind them.<p>

Kairi sat next to the onyx haired boy and scooted over to make room for Namine, as Sora introduced her to the group. "She's cool guys, so be nice."

The group of boys scanned Namine, making her nervous. Especially when a pair of turquoise eyes met hers. In that instant, she felt a hot sensation burning in her cheeks and her heart began to beat rapidly. Everything else except for her and the eyes that belonged to the silver haired boy seemed to be void around her. It was odd.

"That's Axel over there, he's a senior along with Tidus and Zexion," Sora said, pointing to the three boys sitting next to each other. Each one of them nodded, which was the guy way of saying "hi" as Namine put it. "That's Vanitas, Riku, and you already know Roxas."

_Riku_. She felt a blush creeping it's way onto her cheeks. She quickly urged it to go away, thinking of other unpleasant things. Just like the voice that interuppted her thoughts.

"Oh great, it's you again," Roxas groaned. "One class is enough with you."

Namine narrowed her eyes at him. "Exactly what I was thinking."

The red head with triangles tattooed under his eyes, looked at the two back and forth. "Roxas, don't be a jerk. Especially to girls."

Namine immediately liked him, Axel, she remembered his name.

"Yeah man, you're so mean to girls," Vanitas piped up. "If I didn't know better, I'd say that you're gay." Roxas glared at him.

Tidus and the others laughed, including Kairi, although she tried to hide it. "You're mean to girls too, Van," Kairi said, coming to Roxas' defense.

"Yeah but he's mean to everyone," Tidus pointed out. No one else argued that fact.

"Hey Namine," Riku called to her. "Whatever the reason is that you punched Roxas, I'm sure he deserved it."

Namine blushed once more. She opened his mouth respond but Roxas interrupted her, "She hit's like a baby. It literally felt like nothing."

She glared at him, something she realized she did a lot of with him. "You're so irritating."

"And I'm so hurt by that," Roxas said sarcastically.

Luckily for Roxas and the group, who were forced to look back and forth at the two, Lexaeus, the gym teacher, blew his whistle. "Seniors, get to the bleachers! Sophmores make a line outside, Freshman line up against the wall, and Juniors go to the field!"

A chorus of groans escaped the students as they did what they were told. Namine's class filed outside of the building, and marched onto the football field. Another Gym teacher, Xigbar, waited for the class to quiet down before giving directions. Namine looked around the empty field and wondered what they would be doing.

"Today we will begin the day by running one lap around the field. I don't want to see any walking, you hear me!" He barked. The class muttered a yes before dispersing.

Namine groaned, walking slowly towards the start line. Just then, Roxas walked up to her, bumping his shoulders into hers. She frowned up at him, "What?" pure annoyance filled her voice.

"This is round three. You think you can beat me this time around?" A cocky grin formed onto his lips.

"I beat you the other time didn't I?" Namine quipped. "But this time, let's make things interesting," Roxas said nothing but motioned for her to go on. "If I win this, then you have to stop believing that love's stupid. Deal?"

"Alright, but if I win you have admit that it is stupid," He replied.

The two nodded their heads in agreement and got into a ready position, side by side, waiting for the whistle to blow. Kairi looked at the two with a worried expression. By the look in their eyes, Kairi could tell that neither one of them were prepared to lose. She tilted her head back, closed her eyes and clasped her hands together, and prayed. Although it was only her gut telling her, she couldn't help but think that this was just the start of something that would result in a disaster.

* * *

><p><strong>finally finished with this chapter! sorry if you got bored or thought that it sucks X( but review and subscribe if you liked it or want to tell me something about it!<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: **hey guys, thanks for all the wonderful reviews! also, i would like to thank those who put this story in their favorites and story subscriptions! also, thanks for putting me in your favorite authors list :) i'm glad that you guys like it and i hope that you'll like this chapter! oh and for **Shadow hates Faker** i will put Axel in one of Namine's class! don't worry, he's one of my favorites so he'll have lot's of parts in this story :) also, if there's anyone else who wants a certain character to have more parts, feel free to say so! _

_anyways, on with the story!  
><em>

* * *

><p><strong>CHAPTER THREE:<strong>

In the five seconds that they were given to get ready, Kairi bit her lip uneasily, Riku conversed with Sora, who was busy doing toe touches- or at least attempting to- and Vanitas stretched his arms out and yawned. Namine and Roxas hadn't moved from their stance and had their eyes fixed ahead of them. Neither of them spoke a word to each other since then.

Finally, during the last seconds remaining, Namine broke the silence. "Hey Roxas, you might want to tie your shoes before we start."

Roxas rolled her eyes at her. "I'm not falling for that. How stupid do you think I am?"

"Very, to the point of mental retardation to be exact," Namine responded.

Before Roxas could retaliate, the whistle went off. Pushing his left leg forward, Roxas attempted to get ahead of Namine with a quick start. Unfortunately, he tripped over his shoe laces. He got back on his feet and quickly tied his laces, frustrated. Suddenly, he felt a hand pet his hair. He looked up annoyed, only to find Namine springing ahead of him in light, mocking, footsteps. He frowned after her, knowing that it was all part of her plan to make him believe that she was lying when she told him to tie his shoes.

Namine smiled, amused with herself for tricking Roxas to his doom. After seeing his reaction, which was a frown, she turned her attention back to the track and ran past her classmates. In her previous school, Namine had been apart of the track team. Although the sole reason she joined track was for a certain boy who, in the end turned out to be an asshole, Namine easily became one of the fastest girls on the team by training and running many many laps- to impress the said boy, of course. And although the boy was a miss, she managed to accomplish another thing on her father's list because of him. Her father always wanted her to be in a sports team, he didn't care which just as long as she was doing something that involved moving around.

Halfway done with the lap, Namine turned to see where Roxas was. To her surprise, he was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, a voice whispered into her ear- which nearly made her jump. "I'm not that easy to beat."

The voice belonged to none other than Roxas, who she discovered was right by her side. Namine pulled her brows together and frowned. Rather than responding to him, she forced herself to go faster. A second later and Roxas was right at her side again. Determined to lose him, she ran even faster. Of course, Roxas was able to catch up easily to her."It's not too late to call it off," He said with a cocky grin on his face.

Rather than thinking of ways to inflict pain on the boy, Namine focused on the finish line, which was only a few more feet away from her. Determined to lose him, Namine dove forward and forced herself into what she called a "life or death sprint". It was the fastest speed that she was able to run at and the only time she had ever run that fast was when a mugger ran after her.

Roxas fell behind and began to struggle to keep up with Namine, who was almost at the finish line. Instead of turning to gloat, Namine directed herself to keep going. She didn't want to give him the chance to catch up, although it was nearly impossible at the speed she was at.

Of course, it was only just NEARLY impossible. Just as she was at an arm's length away from the finish line, A blur of yellow and white sped past her, sending a gust of wind to attack her hair. Slowing down to push her hair out of the way, she discovered Roxas waiting for her at the finish line. A grin was present on his face, which she knew would be followed by him gloating once she reached the finish line.

Instead of sulking, Namine put of a straight face and walked up to him, slowly but maintaining an unfazed appearance. Of course, she was burning with rage and disappointment inside. "Gloat all you want," She said as Roxas's grin grew wider. "But just so you know, were technically tied now so if you really want to win the bet we'll have to make a round 4."

While excited to have defeated Namine, Roxas saw no harm in another round. After all, he'd thought up of something that would be impossible for her to accomplish. "Alright, but this time no more games," He finally said. Namine answered with a confused look on her face. "Arguing about pointless things and racing each other isn't going to make me want to fall in love or believe that love's worth giving a shot," Roxas explained.

"So then what do I have to do?" Namine asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Give me a reason to fall in love, and you win." Roxas replied.

"Deal." Namine said without hesitation.

"But you have to give me a good reason and actually convince me to believe you. Also, you have to do it by the end of the school year. If you can't change my mind by then, well, then you'll just have to live with the fact that you're never going to change my mind," Roxas added quickly.

Namine simply shrugged, "Easy enough. Now just give me your number."

Roxas gave her a surprised look. "Yeah right, I'm not giving it to you."

"Idiot, I only want it to text you about the bet! Why else would I want your number?" Namine said loudly, causing Kairi, Riku, Sora, and Vanitas, to come over.

Kairi stood between the two, and with anticipation, asked, "I'm guessing you guys are getting along now?"

"Nope," Roxas replied, instantly shooting down the girl's hope. "But because of the bet, I'll have to put up with her. That means we won't fight as much around you guys."

"Bet?" Sora repeated.

"He'll finally believe that love's worth it if I can convince him to fall in love with somebody," Namine explained.

"That's a little easier said than done, don't you think?" Vanitas asked, throwing both of his hands behind his head and clasping them together.

"It's not going to be easy," Namine admitted. "But I guarantee you that I will win."

Roxas scoffed, "We'll see about that." He walked off to meet with the rest of the class, who were sitting by the bleachers waiting for Xigbar to give more instructions on what they were doing next. Namine and the rest followed suit.

As the rest of the period continued, Namine found that the situation got worse for her. Not only had she lost to Roxas at a race, something she was confident about beating him at, but now they were playing touch tag football. Anything having to do with catching or throwing balls, Namine lacked skill in. In fact, the whole remainder of the period for Namine was spent trying to hide behind her team mates and trying to look as heavily gaurded as possible. Of course, with Roxas as her opponent and Sora as her team mate, that wasn't exactly possible.

Despite her many declarations of never wanting possession of the ball, Sora continued to throw it to her. He explained that the more she actually touched the ball and participated in the game, the more confident she would feel about playing. That notion, of course, did not apply to Namine. Every time she caught the ball Roxas was always there, tagging her with an excessive amount of strength. She was beginning to think that Roxas was doing this on purpose, targeting her as a way to make her hate him even more.

"Don't worry, Namine. We still have fifteen minutes left, we can beat them!" Sora said, completely oblivious to the fact that she did not care at all for the game.

"Sora, when I said that I did not want the ball, I meant it," Namine said through gritted teeth.

Sora simply smiled back at her, "Come on, you're not as bad as you think. You're a lot better than Kairi." He jerked to the said red head with his thumb. Namine looked behind him to see Kairi shrieking and crossing her arms over her head every time the ball was coming to her.

"There's still Roxas to worry about. Everytime I get the ball, he's there," Namine said, crossing her arms.

"I have a plan for that," He smiled his usual goofy smile. Despite not wanting to play, Namine couldn't help but believe him. With a sigh she followed him to meet up with the rest of the team, who were lined up along the white line.

Instead of explaining his plan to the team, he turned to Namine and whispered, "Just go where you normally go, and I'll run over to you to give you more directions." So far, the plan didn't seem at all organized to Namine. However, there wasn't much she could do but trust him. At the sound of "Go" Namine ran forward as usual and stopped towards the middle of the field. The others took their places as well, except for Sora who, instead of throwing it to the person nearest to the goal, ran towards Namine. "Run with me and take it when I tell you!"

She did as she was told, running along side with the brunette. As they neared the finish line and Roxas was making a beeline for Sora, the brunette called to Namine and tossed the ballinto her arms. Namine held onto it and sprinted ahead of Sora and Roxas, scoring a touch down. Without thinking, Namine threw the ball at her feet and pumped a fist into the air as a sign of victory- after all, it was her first touch down in history. Unfortunately, her fist had connected with someone's jaw, interrupting her moment. Turning quickly, she met an unconscious Roxas on the floor.

A flood of students surrounded the two. Riku jogged over, pushing past the crowd to make it to his friend. He looked up at Namine, who stared at her fist with a horrified expression. "Guess you're a lot stronger than you think?" He said, trying to make light of the situation. Of course, Namine knew she was in trouble when Xigbar appeared.

"What happened here?" He asked, though not exactly sounding worried about it.

"She knocked him out!" A student in the crowd exclaimed, pointing to Namine.

The blond closed her eyes and waited for Xigbar to shout at her or inflict some sort of humiliating punishment on her. When it didn't come, she opened her eyes again. Xigbar stood where he was jotting down something onto a sticky note, which she assumed came from his pocket, and handed it to her. "Go to the office, they'll deal with you."

Namine gulped. She did not want to go there again. Getting sent down to the office on her first day was one thing, but getting sent down twice on her first day was a whole other thing. She slumped her shoulders and slowly made her way towards the building. As she left the field, Xigbar instructed the others to try to wake Roxas up.

Before entering the office, Namine inhaled and exhaled. She wondered what the principle must think of her now. Taking a second to recompose herself, Namine entered the room. At the sound of the door closing behind her, Dr. Ansem looked up from his computer screen. He quickly closed his browser before Namine approached near him. "You're back," He said, with a hint of irritation penetrating through his voice. Whatever he was doing on the computer must have been important.

Namine handed the note to him, not saying a word. The man read the note before crumpling it up and throwing it in the trash bin. "This is unacceptable!" He exclaimed. "Your violent behavior can not be tolerated anymore!"

"Violent Be-behavior?" She stammered. "It was an accident! I swear it!"

"Mhhmm. You know what this means?" Dr. Ansem waited for her response.

"I'm going to be placed in another class away from him?" Namine said hopefully.

"No, unfortunately there's no room for switching. Instead, you have lunch detention for three days beginning tomorrow." With that, Dr. Ansem dismissed Namine out of his office. Although she wanted to protest against his punishment, she knew that it was better to keep her mouth shut. Before turning to leave, she caught a glimpse of some sort of dating site open up on his browser. It didn't come to Namine as a shock, considering how unlikeable the man seemed. Then again, she might just be biased from him giving her detention.

Outside of the office, Namine met up with Kairi, who seemed to have been waiting for her. "Roxas is okay, if that makes you feel any better," She said to the blond, who had on a look of dismay.

"It doesn't," Namine replied. "I have three days of lunch detention AND my brother's going to kill me!"

"I hope that doesn't mean that you can't come to the party," Kairi said. Namine raised a brow at her, prodding her to continue. "Zexion, you met him earlier, he's throwing a party. Actually, Tidus and Demyx are throwing it but at his house. Zexion's parents are gone for the week so that's why it's at his house."

"I don't know, I didn't really get to know him that well. And besides, if my brother finds out that I got detention, I'm done for," Namine replied.

"If he finds out," Kairi said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I doubt Dr. Ansem called him. And besides, you don't have to tell your brother exactly why you got detention do you?"

Namine hesitated before answering. "No..."

"Good. That means that you are coming to the party! And no worries, they're like our big brothers. Now that you're our friend, you're also their little sister," Kairi smiled warmly at her.

At any other given circumstance, Kairi's smile would have relieved Namine, but she had another thing to worry about. "I'll go, but I'll have to warn you that I haven't been to a party in awhile..." By a while, she meant since she was in second grade. In second grade, she managed to spill grape juice on the birthday girl's dress, trip on some of her gifts- which eventually lead to them breaking, and of course, deflating the ball pit with her surprisingly pointy shoes, which she wasn't even supposed to have on. These actions lead to her being condemned for the next years of her life, never being invited to a single party.

"Don't worry, it's just a normal party," Kairi said reassuringly.

"Which is?" Namine pressed on.

"Dancing, hooking up, booze, and maybe drugs," Kairi listed. Namine panicked, she'd never had any experience with any of those before- unless you counted dancing alone when no one else was there. "Don't worry, the last one's optional. And just trust me on this one, you'll have a good time."

* * *

><p>Her next period class, which was also the second to last one, was Home Ec. She was surprised to find Axel and Demyx sitting together at the back table, fooling around while the others began to put on their aprons. She examined the two, noticing the differences between the two friends. While Demyx had a friendly and laid back air to him, Axel seemed more intimidating and, for a lack of better words, <em>fiery<em>. Though his hair was an accomplice in her choice of words. Namine walked over to the teacher first, Mrs. White, and asked for directions on what she was supposed to do. The teacher told her to get into a group that had less than four members and that they would tell her what they were doing next.

Without hesitation, Namine walked over to the two boys at the back, "Can I be in this group?" She asked, somewhat shyly.

"Yeah, sure." Demyx said, pulling out a chair for her to sit in. Namine sat in the seat and began to feel a little more at ease, though she was still feeling a little intimidated by Axel's stare and six foot frame. Earlier in gym class, she had decided that she would like him, but now she wondered if it would be possible with her being slightly scared of him.

"Don't take this the wrong way," Axel began, "But this group's kind of destined to fail."

"Yeah, the teacher hates us for no reason." Demyx replied, although Namine sensed that he was lying about that part.

"The bitch won't let us touch the stoves or anything because of what happened the last time that happened when we used them." Axel added.

"What did you guys do exactly?" Namine asked.

"We had to use the oven and Axel wasn't patient enough so he turned the oven settings to the highest setting. He thought that it would cook faster if he did that." Demyx replied. "We ended up starting a fire."

"Which wouldn't have been that bad if Demyx here hadn't thrown in some cooking oil." Axel said, countering his fault in starting the fire with his friend's stupidity.

"I thought it was water." He muttered.

"It was yellowish, dumbass." Axel said pointedly.

"Big deal, you could have stopped me." Demyx shot back.

"I was trying to fill up a glass of water when you threw it in!" Axel snapped.

Namine looked at the two back and forth. It was obvious to her why this group wasn't allowed to do anything. Axel was impatient and seemed to have a short temper, and Demyx was, to put it in nicely, lacked common sense. It was also clear to her why the other students didn't want to pair up with the two; They apparently argued a lot. But Namine could sense that it was all just for fun, after all, they wouldn't have put up with each other for this long if they weren't best friends.

Mrs. White hovered over the group, giving Demyx and Axel a scolding look. "For the love of God, I hope you two don't plan on cooking by yourselves in the future." She shook her head and handed the two a list of instructions for making brownies. "Since a majority of Group C's members are absent, your group will be cooking today." Before turning to leave, she looked to Namine, who was amused by Demyx mocking her from behind. "And you, don't think I haven't heard about you! I know what you did to that poor boy. That is no way for a lady to act!" With that, Mrs. White turned to leave without giving Namine as much as a second look.

"What?" Namine said quietly, shocked and unnerved by how her reputation for being a bully was growing.

"Great, another reason for her to hate our group," Axel said. "Oh well, I guess that means you'll fit right in with us," He smiled, which Namine had to admit was pretty nice for a guy who looked as scary as he did.

Although fitting in with a group of trouble makers didn't seem like something to be proud of, Namine couldn't help but smile. While it may have been to soon to tell, Namine was starting to believe that she found where she belonged. Of course, she still had to officially get to know Zexion and the others that Kairi informed her would be at the party. And then there was Roxas, who was also a part of the group. But Namine decided that she'd forget about him altogether.

"God, I would never have taken this class with you if I didn't realize exactly how much of an imbecile you really are!" Axel exclaimed.

"I'd rather be an imbecile than a bi-" Demyx began.

Before he could finish his sentence, Namine cut him off after deciding that she had let their little argument go on for too long. "Guys! We need to focus!" The two looked at her. "We should show Mrs. White that we're not as bad off as she thinks we are."

Demyx and Axel looked at each other before answering, "But she is right."

"Besides, I kind of like the idea of giving her hell for the whole year a lot more than trying to be good for one day," Axel continued. "It's too much hard work to be a good student." Demyx nodded in agreement.

"Don't you guys want to actually cook instead of cleaning the dishes all the time?" Namine asked.

Demyx shrugged, "For the safety of the school, I think it's best if we didn't cook."

"Well...what about passing the class?" Namine pressed on.

"We're seniors, failing one class isn't going to hurt. And for you, I doubt she'd fail you since that would mean having you next year again." Axel replied.

Realizing that the two wouldn't let up, Namine sighed. "Alright. Fine, let's do it your way." The two boys looked at each other with wide grins. "But if I'm going to fail this class, it better be worth it!" Namine threatened the duo with a fist, though neither seemed to be taking her seriously.

"Yeah, yeah. Just trust us on this one that this class isn't going to be just like any other boring class. I mean, pissing the teacher off, fooling around, slacking off, sleeping in class from time to time, doesn't that sound fun to you?" Axel smiled mischievously.

"I guess it couldn't hurt to slack off in ONE class..."

* * *

><p>Namine rested her head on the table and groaned, "I knew it was a bad idea!" She was in last period Art and was completely worn out from the day, which was not going as great as she expected. While it was true that she had a knack for drawing bad luck- some instances included her ruining a birthday party that resulted in her never being invited to another one, accidently giving her teacher food poisoning, and earning a reputation as a trouble maker despite her actually being a misunderstood good girl- Namine hadn't expected on the day going this badly for her.<p>

"What happened?" Olette asked, taking a seat across from her.

"I let Axel and Demyx talk me into fooling around in Home Ec." Namine grumbled.

Olette smiled at her sympathetically. "Did you get any more punishment?"

Namine nodded. "I have to help with serving the cafeteria food with Demyx and Axel tomorrow. It's so unfair, that class has nothing to do with the cafeteria!"

"Well, what did you guys do exactly?" Olette asked.

"Nothing. Demyx just added some extra ingredients like chunks of oranges and bacon strips into the brownies. After that, Axel gave a piece to Mrs. White. I didn't do anything except for making sure that it wasn't going to poison her or anything and I still got in trouble," Namine replied. "I mean, I know it must have tasted horrible, but you can't punish us for bad cooking."

Olette shook her head. "As unfair as that sounds, you kind of had it coming to you. I mean, you did join Axel and Demyx's group."

"I know, they told me I'd be in for a lot of trouble. But me, being the stupid little girl I am, thought that nothing really bad would come of it. That's what every day in that class is going to be like!" Namine cried.

"Relax, I mean you're not that much of a good girl." Olette told her. "I mean you did try to punch Roxas and even successfully knocked him out the second time."

"The first time was all because of Xion. I saw how cool she looked when she got one of the guys to stop bothering her when she punched him. She also said that that's what I should do if anyone else tries to start something with me. Apparently, that only applies to people who don't have spaghetti noodles for arms," Namine stretched out an arm, which was thin and long. "And the second time was just an accident!"

Olette held her arms up, as if it would calm her down. "Relax! It's not so bad...people will forget about it after a week. Besides, after tomorrow you can show people just how nice of a person you really are!" She smiled. "Now just calm down already."

"If that was possible," Namine muttered.

"Come on," The brunette said cheefully. "Let's talk about something else then, that'll cheer you up!"

Seeing as moping about how poorly her day was going wasn't helping her with anything, Namine agreed. "Alright..."

With slight hesitation Olette asked, "So did you see anyone you might like?"

The question managed to get the blond flustered. "Uh..n-no. Why do you ask?"

Olette smiled mischievously, something Namine thought impossible for the brunette to do. According to Selphie, Olette was the "well mannered' one of the group. "You're lying," She declared, flustering the blond even more. "Come on, who is it?"

Namine hesitated before answering, "R-"

"Roxas? I knew it! That's why you're so mean to him!" Olette said, cutting her off. "You know, I didn't want to say it because I thought you didn't like him, but you guys make a cute pair."

Namine shot her a disgusted look before answering, "That's repulsive! I was going to say..." She lowered her voice into a whisper, "Riku."

"Really? Well, I guess it's not too surprising," Olette began. "I mean he is one of the most wanted by the girls in this school. Not including me of course, I just think of him as a friend," She quickly added.

"Great. That's just what I need, competition," Namine mumbled.

"Relax, you're going to the party right?" Olette asked. Namine nodded in response. "Riku's going to be there too, so you two could get to know each other better! Who knows, maybe he'll like you back!"

Namine paled at that idea. She did not want Riku to see just how awkward she was at parties. "I- I don't think that that's such a good idea. I mean, maybe it's just a stupid crush..."

"And what if it isn't?" Olette countered.

Namine struggled to think up of something else. After coming up with nothing, she sighed. "It's just not a good idea. I'm going to embarrass myself in front of him!"

Olette raised a brow at her. "And why is that?"

As much as Namine didn't want to admit it, she knew she had to tell her. "I've never been to a high school party before. I don't know what goes on and I'm really not good at socializing at parties."

The brunette let out a small laugh, causing Namine to glare. "You act like that's so bad! If you want, Selphie and Kairi will give you a _tutorial_. And, they could also help you with Riku! They both know more about guys than I do," Olette replied.

Namine thought to herself. After a few more moments of deciding whether she should still go to the party or not, Namine finally answered, "Alright, you got me."

Olette cheered before having to be silenced by the teacher. "That's great! Here, give me your address. I'll pick you up at six!"

Without thinking about how Cloud would react to her going to a party, Namine jotted her address down on a piece of notebook paper and handed it to Olette. It was an odd thing for her to do, Namine realized. Agreeing to go to a party without the consent of her older brother, getting in trouble with the teachers, and making an enemy, weren't exactly the norm for Namine. In fact, she wondered if this was what her new life would be composed of. If it was, Namine didn't mind it at all. Well, maybe just a little..

* * *

><p>After wandering around the streets trying to get back home, Namine finally arrived at her destination. Exhausted, she entered the building and made a beeline for the elevator. There was no way that she was going to walk up all three flights of stairs. Upon entering the elevator, she found that she was being sandwiched between two other people; A businessman who busy shouting out orders to his co-workers through his bluetooth, and a lady who had sprayed too much perfume on. Namine couldn't wait for the ride to be over.<p>

Just when she felt like she was going to pass out from inhaling the woman's perfume, the elevator stopped at her designated floor and opened it's doors. Rushing out of the compartment, Namine inhaled the stale air- which she preffered over the strong perfume. After getting rid of the scent of the perfume from her nose, Namine continued down the hall until she reached the second door on the left at the end. She pulled out her key, which was adorned with the paopu charm she found at the beach one day, and placed it into the door lock. She gave it a twist and pushed the door open.

Sitting upright on the faux leather couch was Cloud, who had on a serious face. Namine gulped, she knew something was up. Slowly, she made her way to the couch across from him and sat down. This became the usual for them whenever they had to have a conference. "Y-yes?" Namine asked anxiously.

"Mind telling me why you punched a student twice today?" He asked. Namine panicked, realizing that the principal had called after all.

"It was all just an accident. I didn't mean to knock him out." Namine muttered, avoiding eye contact with him.

It seemed like an eternity before her brother said anything again. "I guess you got what you deserved, so there's no need for even more punishment. Besides, I guess it was a good thing that it was a guy..." He let his sentence trail off.

Namine relaxed. Although she disliked the fact that her brother expected her to still be in the "boys have cooties" stage, this time she was actually thankful for this. Cloud didn't want Namine dating until she was thirty, so that meant that she couldn't talk to a boy without him having to interrogate the boy.

Before standing up to leave, Namine decided that she should ask while he was still in a fairly good mood. "Cloud?" She began. Her brother looked up at her and signaled for her to go on with a nod. "Can I, maybe, possibly, go to a party?"

"Jesus, I knew the day would come." He muttered, causing Namine to raise a brow at him. "Wouldn't you prefer spending quality time with your brother rather than partying?"

"If by quality time, you mean keeping you awake while you're doing your thesis paper, then no," Namine answered.

Cloud sighed. "Fine, I guess I should let you experience your first party since that incident," Namine glared at him when he began to smile, "And besides, going to parties was the kind of thing that I always did when I was your age." As a teenager, Cloud was reckless and wild. He was almost to the point of being out of control, as their father put it. Namine remembered her brother always sneaking out late to go to a party, or the times when he threw parties at the house when their father was away. It seemed almost hard to believe for Namine that the reckless child he was transformed into the man standing in front of her- stern looking and matured.

"Thanks, Cloud," Namine smiled, reaching out to hug him. Stiffly, Cloud accepted the hug. Although older, he was still as stiff as ever about showing affection.

To pass the time, Namine finished her homework, which wasn't much. Next, she toasted two slices of bread and slathered nutella spread on one slice. After that, she planned on taking a two hour nap on the couch.

The two hours passed by rather quickly and the next thing she knew, she was woken up by a ring. Realizing that it must have been Olette, she got up and pressed the button to let the girl in the building. Namine returned back to the couch and waited for the girl to come. A few minutes passed and she heard a knock on the door. "Coming!" She called, skipping over to the door and opening it.

"Hey Namine!" Selphie greeted. Along side her were Olette, Xion, and Kairi, who all waved at her.

"Let me just get my shoes on and the-" Namine began but was interrupted by Selphie, who let herself into the room.

"I'm sorry but you can not wear that. I mean, it's fine for school, but we're going to a party so you have to dress up a little more than that," Selphie informed her.

Olette cleared her throat before pulling her friend back outside. "Sorry about that, Selphie here doesn't have manners."

Namine shook her head, "No, it's fine. Come in," She stepped aside to let the girls in. "So, then what should I wear?" She asked.

"Can we see your closet?" Selphie asked.

Namine nodded and lead them to her room. Before she could show them inside, Cloud appeared. "Oh...you have friends over?" He had just emerged from his bedroom and judging from his messy hair, had also woken up from a nap.

"Yeah, is it okay?" Namine asked.

He shrugged. "Sure," He turned to the girls and attempted to give them a friendly smile before retreating back to his bedroom.

"That's your brother?" Selphie lowered her voice to a whisper. "He's cute!"

Namine blushed, she had gotten this a lot in her old school. "Yeah...now back to what I should wear." Namine lead the girls into her room, which was still painted white and stacked with cardboard boxes. She made a note to herself to get some decorations for the room and to unpack her stuff.

"Sorry about this, I still have to do some unpacking," Namine said as she lead them to her closet. She opened the door to expose a minimal array of clothes displayed on the shelves.

Selphie peered into the closet, picking up and examining a few articles of clothing. She went through six clothes before deciding on a white dress that was folded all the way in the corner. "Here, this is perfect!"

Namine looked at the rest, now realizing that they were all dressed up. Kairi was wearing a coral summer dress, Olette wore a tank top and a yellow floral skirt, and Xion was dressed up in denim capri pants and a blue camisole underneath a black hoodie, despite the heat. Although Xion's tire was considered casual, it was the most dressed up that the other girls could get Xion to be.

"Are all parties fancy like this?" Namine questioned, after changing behind the closed closet door. She was now wearing the white dress, which according to the others, flattered her.

"No, but since there's going to be guys we need to look cute," Selphie replied. Selphie was the boy crazy one out of the group, which didn't take Namine long to realize. However, she had been informed that Selphie only had eyes for a certain boy named, Tidus.

"Do you have any white or brown sandals or flip flops?" Kairi asked, scanning her room. Namine nodded, pulling out a pair of brown sandals from underneath her bed. They were somewhat worn out, but Namine loved them anyway. Kairi smiled in approval, "That's good enough, now let's go before we miss even more of the party!"

The girls rushed out of the room and made their way into a red mini cooper, which Namine learned belonged to Xion. "Sorry, Nami, but were stuck in this thing as a ride." Selphie said, earning a glare from Xion.

"If you really hate the idea of arriving to the party in _this,_ then why don't you just walk there?" Xion quipped from the driver's seat.

Selphie muttered something unintelligible before snapping her seatbelt into place. With that, Xion pressed on the gas and veered off into the road at a speed Namine felt was dangerous. Of course, this was how all Twilight Town civilians drove like, as she learned from a previous experience.

Namine, who was seated in the passengers seat, gripped the sides of the chair, nervous. Kairi leaned over her seat, "Olette told us the situation. Don't worry, we have your back on this one! And Riku's a good choice!" She added with a smirk that caused Namine to blush. "Anyway, we'll make sure nothing bad will happen since it's your first time. Just relax and have fun!"

_Relax and have fun_, Namine repeated to herself over and over until they pulled to a stop in front of a yellow house with a spacious front and backyard. Namine gulped, as the other girls leapt out of the car. "It's just a small house party, no big deal," Xion said, reassuringly before closing the door behind her.

Before closing the door behind her, Namine took a deep breath and exhaled. It was her first high school party and she was determined to make it a good experience. However, she was also convinced that there was a force out there purposely trying to make her life miserable. She quickly pulled out the paopu charm attached to her key and gave it a squeeze, as if it would serve as a charm to ward off her bad luck. With another deep breath, she tucked the charm back into her pocket and walked up the front steps with her friends.

The girls stood outside for a moment until the door opened. Tidus stood in front of the door way with a smile on his face, "Come in, the party just started!"

With that, Namine entered the household, commencing her first high school party experience.

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><p><strong>This chapter's just a filler, so sorry if you guys think that the story's moving really slowly X(. anyway, i hope you guys liked it and the next chapter will have all of the details about the party! review and subscribe if you guys want :)<strong>


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